A Little Friday File Fun

In Cádiz, Spain, a water treatment plant was to give an award for an employee’s 20 years of loyal service. That is, until they found out he hadn’t been working for the last six years. According to the Huffington Post, the building supervisor quietly collected a $41,500 salary from his local government without showing up for work. “I wondered whether he was still working there–had he retired, had he died? But the payroll showed he was still receiving a salary,” deputy mayor Jorge Blas told Spanish newspaper El Mundo. Garcia’s attorney, speaking on his behalf, reportedly blamed bullying at his workplace for his absence. He also said there was no work to do. People close to Garcia told El Mundo he dedicated himself to reading philosophy instead, and that he did not report the bullying out of fear that he could be fired.

In DeLand, Florida, a man called 911 at least six times in one day. According to the Huffington post, among other things he asked dispatchers to throw people out of homes in order to “serve and protect,” tried to report an emergency at the White House, and told dispatchers his emergency was being “poor” and not able to vote. Dispatchers also said he hung up on two occasions when they tried to transfer him to a non-emergency line. A police officer was sent to the man’s home. When the officer asked him what he was doing, he said, “talking to your dispatcher because I’m bored.”

In Alamo, California, a man was distressed about running out of family photos to put on the computer. According to The Onion, the project has occupied many of his weeknights and Saturday afternoons since he came across a scanner on sale at a local electronics retailer three months ago. He told reporters, “I suppose I could still go through and take the red-eye out of them. And I should get a hard drive to back them up on, in case something happens to my computer. Maybe I’ll check the attic again to make sure I’m not missing any old school portraits.” However, sources now say he has taken on the task of going back through each image and adding approximate dates.

MARKET MIRROR

Friday, the Dow closed 72.85 points (0.29%) higher at 24,946.51, the NASDAQ was virtually unchanged at 7,481.99, and the S&P 500 was up 4.68 points (0.17%) at 2,752.01. The Russell 2000 increased 9.43 points (0.60%) to 1,586.05, and the Wilshire 5000 gained 78.92 points (0.28%) to finish at 28,545.18.

The price of the 10-year Treasury note was down 4/32, increasing its yield to 2.844%. The price of the 30-year Treasury bond decreased 12/32, bringing its yield up to 3.078%.

WEEK’S WORTH: For the week ending March 16, the Dow fell 1.54%, the NASDAQ decreased 1.04%, and the S&P 500 lost 1.24%. The Russell 2000 was down 0.69%, and the Wilshire 5000 finished 1.09% lower.